Time Warp Book

“Time Warp Trio: Plaid to the Bone” by Jon Scieszka is about a group of kids that are warped in time to fourteenth century medieval Scotland.  They are searching for a lost book.  This is a great picture book for students in first through third grade.  This is one book from a series of the Time Warp Trio.  I enjoyed the adventure the kids to when they were warped back to the fourteenth century and I recommend this book to beginning readers.  The pictures in the book are also good for early readers because they help to tell the story as well.  A major theme and thematic unit from the book is the fourteenth century.  A memorable part of the book is when Mad Jack tries to take the book from the kids.  This book would be a good read aloud classroom activity for your students.

Bib Entry:

Scieszka, John. “Time Warp Trio: Plaid to the Bone”. Harper Collins. 2007. Print.

Book Cover Image taken from:

Picture Book Blog

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

“Of Thee I Sing”, is a very well written picture book by President Barack Obama.  It is illustrated by award winning illustrator Loren Long.  This book is intended for age’s four to eight.  In the book Barack Obama addresses thirteen groundbreaking Americans that have changed our nation for the better.  President Obama believes the qualities of these thirteen legendary Americans are common between his daughters and America’s children.  One passage I liked was about the courage Jackie Robinson displayed becoming the first African American Major League Baseball player.  This book was written before President Obama took office and just recently published.  No matter what your political preference is, this book is worth your time to read.  “Of Thee I Sing”, would be great to read in class to your students.  It will introduce thirteen wonderful Americans to your students.  After reading this book your students could begin a project to pick their own thirteen legendary Americans and why they chose them.

Bibliographic Information:

Obama, Barack. “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters”. Illus. Loren Long. Knopf Books for Young Readers. New York, NY. 2010.

Book cover taken from:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/1116/Obama-s-Of-Thee-I-Sing-hits-bookstore-shelves

Traditional Literature

The question from your TE 301 class textbook I would like to answer is on pg. 93 question #2. What are the major characteristics of traditional literature?

Traditional literature’s major characteristics are rooted in entertainment, sharing wisdom and telling news.  These characteristics are shown with values beliefs and culture of the time.  In our textbook on page 93 it tells us that most traditional literature stories were told by word of mouth until people started to create books on these stories.  often times traditional literature books may not tell the original tale the way it was first told.  The major characteristics of traditional literature still remain through a persons telling of an experience or imagination.

Bibliographic Information:

Stoodt-Hill, Barbara and Linda B. Smspaugh-Corson. “Children’s Literature: discovery for a Lifetime.” 4th edition. Prentice Hall, 2009.

The Three Little Pigs (Fairy Tale)

“The Three Little Pigs” by Steven Kellogg is a retelling of the popular kids fairy tale The Three Little Pigs.  This book differs from the original three little pigs book because these pigs make waffles as a family business.  Of course a big bad wolf threatens to blow the pigs homes down.  I recommend this book because it is a fun retelling of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale tale.  Steven Kellogg puts a fun twist into his telling of the ‘Three Little Pigs”  Read this book to find out for yourself!

Bibliographic Information:

Kellogg, Steven. “The Three Little Pigs.” HarperCollins. 2002. Print.

Picture Taken from:

http://www.charteroakbooks.net/si/POST-KELLO-0001.html

Jack and the Bean Stalk (Fairy Tale)

The book I am blogging about today is called Jack and the bean Stalk by Richard Walker and Niamh Sharkey. This book is a more recent publication of the classic fairy tale Jack and the Bean Stalk. This book has wonderful use of color in its illustrations. The story line follows closely to the normal jack in the bean stalk tales. The child trades the cow Daisy for seeds and they grow into a giant bean stalk. Even though you may know the complete story already, I would recommend reading this book anyway to look at the wonderful artwork. Its also a very short 40 page picture book so it would be prefect for a second through third grade student.

If you were a teacher, I would recommend reading this book out loud to your class. Then an activity your students could do is to draw their own picture of what the giant bean stalk looks like that they picture in their minds from listening to the story.

A thematic unit from this book is economics.  The boy gives up something valuable in exchange for something needed.

Bibliographic Information:

Walker, Ricdard. Illus: Niamh Sharkey. “Jack and the Bean Stalk”. Barefoot Books. 2006. Print.

Book cover taken from:

Dogzilla (Parody Book)

A parody book I just finished reading is called Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey. This book is a parody to the Godzilla book and movies. Instead of a larger then life gorilla attacking people and a city, this story is about a dog that is attacking mice and their annual cookout. To the mice the dog is a giant monster just as the people in the book Godzilla thought the gorilla was a giant monster. Dogzilla’s pictures and story line would be great for students in first through third grade. This is because the pictures are very colorful and the storyline is very easy to read.

Bibliographic Information:

Pilkey, Dav. “Dogzilla”. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2003. Print.

Two Diversity Books

The first diversity book I found was Brothers in Hope The Story of The Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.  This book is a great example of culturally responsive teaching because it allows the reader to discover the culture of the lost boys of Sudan.  I learned a lot about the Sudan refugees from this book.  For example many refugees had to overcome war, starvation and diseases.  This would be a great book for students fourth grade and up to learn about refugees from other countries.  The illustrations will also give readers a look at what life is like for these refugees in Sudan.  R. Gregory Christie even earns a Coretta Scott King award for the illustrations done in this book.  Take the time to share this book to your students!

Bib Entry:

Williams, Mary. Brothers in Hope The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan.  Illus. by R. Gregory Christie.  Lee & Low Books, New York. 2005. Print

Picture Taken from:

http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Hope-Story-Coretta-Illustrator/dp/1584302321

The second book I found for culturally responsive teaching is Color Me Dark, The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North by Patrica C. McKissack.  This book is about the dark period in American history when the color of someones skin permitted them to do certain things.  The book takes place during a migration north to Chicago, Illinois in 1919.  Students will gain culturally responsive knowledge after reading this book because it lets you see through the eyes of a young African-American girl growing up during this time period.  Not only did she have to deal with racial segregation, she had gender problems of being a young lady during the early 1900’s.  I would recommend this book to anyone in fourth grade and up.  This chapter book contains a lot of information about life in the early 1900’s that a student younger than fourth grade may not fully understand.

Bib Entry:

McKissack, Patricia C. Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North. Scholastic Inc. New York. 2000. Print

Picture Taken From:

http://www.jandjbooksandcoffee.com/images_books/0590511599.jpg

ABC and 123 Book Blog

ABC BOOK:

The book I am blogging about today is “Alphabet Mystery” by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Bruce Wood.  This book is an easy to read picture book for a 1st-3rd grade student.  It teaches the reader all of the letters in the alphabet and even introduces capital letters.  The book grabs the reader’s attention with the mystery of the missing lowercase x.  The rest of the lowercase alphabet takes off on adventure to find their missing friend lowercase x.  Finally they find lowercase x but need to get away from Master M’s castle before they are all made alphabet soup!  I recommend this book for 1st-3rd grade as a classroom read out loud because it introduces the alphabet in a unique, fun, mystery picture book.

Bib Entry:

Wood, Audrey. “Alphabet Soup”. Illus. Bruce Wood. Scholastic Inc. New York, NY. 2003.  Print

Picture taken from:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0439443377.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

123 BOOK:

The 123 book I have chosen is “Ten Little Fish” by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Bruce Wood.  This book teaches the reader how to count down from ten.  The book does this by having ten fish together and each page one fish leaves the school of ten fish to do its own activity.  For example there were ten fish in a line and one dives down and there are now nine fish together.  This continues one by one until only one fish is left. Then that fish finds another fish.  These two fish fall in love and create ten more little fish.  This book is a fun way to introduce counting down from ten to 1st grade students.  It would also make a great picture book to read in front of the entire classroom.  This is because the book is short and Bruce Wood has created many eye catching illustrations.  Plus your students will learn how to count down from ten in a fun way.  You could even have the students create their own count down from ten picture book after you have finished reading “Ten Little Fish” to your students.

Bib Entry:

Wood, Audrey. “Ten Little Fish”. Illus. Bruce Wood. Scholastic Inc. New York, NY. 2005.  Print.

Picture Taken from:

Content vs. Concept books

A concept book is often a young child’s first informative book.  A young child’s concept book will use many pictures to address what concepts are within the text.  Many content books on the other hand are focused toward older children and adults.  They often use less pictures and more detailed information about the topic within the text.  The content book often presents the reader with a more indepth look into the topic.  Both of these books are used to inform a reader about a topic.  Simple forms of concept books would be counting books, alphabet books and books on shape or color.  Content books would be more like a student textbook.  They could cover multiple concepts and topics.

Historical Fiction Picture Books

The Babe & I

This book is about a boy who sells newspapers.  Because everyone wanted to know how Babe Ruth was doing they bought newspapers from the boy.  Babes home runs helped him sell newspapers everyday.  They were a team because of that.

This is a great book for students in 2nd grade and higher.  It teaches students that working hard for money is something to be proud of.  It also shows students what it means to work for a goal.  The book does a great job of these two things while providing historical facts about Bab Ruth’s 1932 season.

Bib. Entry:

Adler, David A.  The Babe & I. Illus. Terry Widener.  Gulliver Books.  San Diego, CA. 1999.

Picture taken from:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images The Babe and I.

Galileo’s Leaning tower Experiment

this book is about Galileo challenging one of Aristotle’s laws. The idea that objects no matter how heavy will hit the ground at the same time if dropped from the same height.

This book would be good to introduce 2nd grade and up the idea of thinking and creating. This book shows students how to preform experiments to test ideas. I would use this book before a lesson teaching the scientific method.

Bib. Entry: Macdonald, Wendy. Galileo’s leaning Tower Experiment. Illus. Paolo Rui. Charlesbridge. Watertown, MA. 2009.

Picture taken from: